messin with light

[Tim Schulz]

Hi all,

I’ve been messing around with a wooden trout and speedlites in my office.  I’d appreciate any comments, especially if you see some obvious mistakes I’m making with the light.

Thanks,
Tim

[Neal Osborn]

I love the concept Tim.

[Tim Schulz]

Thanks for the comments Neal.  The top photo is my most recent, and I used one of my new snoots to isolate the light on the flies.  The paint on the fish is glossy, so I’ve been struggling to avoid the specular reflections.  I appreciate your suggestions, and I’ll try them.  I have plastic diffusers, a mini soft box, and pocket bouncer at my disposal.  I just ordered an off camera shoe chord, so I’ll soon have both of my flashes off camera.  

I’ve been using a Canon 580EXII on camera and a 430EXII off camera, but the 580 was used only as the master for these shots. All of the light has been coming from the 430, which I’ve been moving around by hand.

I’ve been having a ball with this, and your advice on this board and your blog has been very helpful.  Thanks!

[Neal Osborn]

I really do like your idea and concept with this series of shots TIm.

[Douglas Barnes]

I really do like your idea and concept with this series of shots TIm.  Remember, shooting anything shinny/glossy/metal (like your fish) can be challenging because of the reflective properties of the object.  Try a few of these links on how to shoot metal objects and let me know if you have any questions.  Remember that the fish will act like a mirror in a sense, so if you want it to pop, you might consider a big white card placed at a 90 degree angle to your lens and then you will see the difference.

a few helpful links.

http://www.learnmyshot.com/How+to+photograph+Shiny+Reflective+Objects+Silver+Chrome+Metal

http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-photograph-shiny-metal-and-reflections

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=34894131

Also, do a google search for anything on shooting food.  Those skills are directly translated to shooting fly tying/products.  

Great info!

You might try using a polarizing filter for those reflections… 😉

[Tim Schulz]

Thanks guys.

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